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SILICON VILLAGE

Thursday, September 21, 2017

‘Humans and Robots to be Comfortable Coworkers by 2020, But Skills and Culture Gaps Pose Hurdles’

A large
majority of global companies that are leaders in artificial intelligence (AI)
expect their employees will work comfortably with robots by 2020. Despite this
optimistic outlook, a significantly smaller fraction of businesses is providing
adequate reskilling and training to address technology disruption, according to
a new survey of C-suite and senior executives. The study shows a striking
disconnect between the expectations of how AI will impact the future of work,
and the actions companies are taking in preparing their workforces and
organizations for that future.

The
research, Is Your Business AI-Ready?, conducted by Genpact, a
global professional services firm focused on delivering digital transformation,
and FORTUNE Knowledge Group, also underscores that even in AI’s early days of
enterprise applications, large gaps in behavior and performance exist between
AI leaders (companies realizing the most impact from AI) and laggards (those
reporting the lowest business outcomes from this technology). While 82 percent
of respondents plan to implement AI-related technologies in the next three
years, these disparities in success will only widen without adoption of
critical widespread organizational change.

“CxOs
often struggle with how to achieve strong business impact from AI. The survey findings
underscore what we see with our clients daily – success
won’t come simply from technology alone,” said N.V. ‘Tiger’
Tyagarajan, president and chief executive officer, Genpact. “Companies
must train their workforce – at all levels – and encourage the right corporate
culture. Collaboration between humans and machines has the power to improve
customer experiences, grow revenue, and create new jobs – but only if senior management
has the vision to proactively prepare and embrace change.”

Resistance more from corner office than cubicles

While
recent news reports raise alarms about the average worker’s wariness of AI, the
study shows the C-suite’s view is the exact opposite: close to one-third (32
percent) of respondents indicate senior management is the group that most
strongly resists AI. This compares with only 13 percent who cite middle
management, and a mere five percent who say entry-level workers resist most.

Breaking barriers: Leaders embrace talent + technology

According
to the research, the top three barriers to AI adoption are information security
concerns, lack of clarity about where to apply AI most effectively, and silos
within the organization, especially between information technology and other
functions. AI leaders clearly understand that overcoming these barriers
requires much more than just having leading-edge technology. Leaders
dramatically excel over AI laggards in encouraging a culture that fosters success.
For example:

More than half
(53 percent) of leaders foster a training and development culture to learn
new skills, compared to 15 percent of laggards.

Almost 60
percent of leaders say their middle managers think out of the box and
encourage innovation, compared to only 14 percent of laggards.

AI
leaders also have a strong focus on process:

Two-thirds of
leaders have processes and systems that are well documented with standard
operational procedures, compared to 20 percent of laggards.

Leaders are more
than four times more likely to have large amounts of customer data they
can easily share across all departments (58 percent of leaders versus 14
percent of laggards).

“Process
design and talent are keys to success with AI,” said Sanjay Srivastava,
chief digital officer, Genpact. “One provides the catalyst for
extracting the value from AI technologies; the other provides the amplifier to
drive it at scale for the enterprise. Without one or the other, the chemistry
of AI success just doesn’t work.”

When
looking at AI benefits, leaders have the clear edge in moving beyond the more
expected cost-cutting measures. While a third of all respondents cite cost
savings as a benefit, more than 40 percent of leaders say AI improves the
customer experience. Leaders also are almost twice as likely to achieve
increased revenues from AI (45 percent of leaders, compared to 25 percent of
all respondents) – a clear indication that using AI to transform the customer
experience also delivers competitive differentiation.

Moreover, when asked to fast
forward three years, 87 percent of all respondents expect that AI will bring
better customer experiences. This underscores how companies increasingly plan
to throw out their old playbook and replace it with AI – a nod toward the
importance of imaginative, personalized, and immersive customer experiences.

The
research also addresses companies’ investments in and use of AI and other
technologies, and further trends on reskilling and workplace issues. To access
a copy of the report, Is Your Business AI-Ready?, In addition, in a separate forthcoming
study, Genpact will explore AI’s impact on consumers, both in their personal
and professional lives.

In June 2017, Genpact and
FORTUNE Knowledge Group conducted a survey of 300 senior executives (C-suite
and one level below) from around the world, seeking insights into the
strategies respondents and their companies use when adopting artificial
intelligence (AI) technologies.

Fifty-one percent of the respondents’ companies
earn annual revenues of US$1 billion to $5 billion; 28 percent between $5
billion and 10 billion; 17 percent between $10 billion and 25 billion; and 5
percent between $25 billion and $50 billion. One-third of the respondents are
based in North America, and the remaining two-thirds are evenly split between
Europe and the Asia-Pacific region. The study also differentiated between “AI
leaders” –respondents who achieve strong positive business outcomes from AI,
scoring 9 or 10 on a 10-point scale -- and “AI laggards,” who scored 1 through
6 on the same scale.